South African Open

Thriston Lawrence dug deep to win the 112th South African Open title at Blair Atholl Golf and Country Estate on Sunday. Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images

Thriston Lawrence hangs on to win South African Open title

Thriston Lawrence dug deep to win the 112th South African Open title at Blair Atholl Golf and Country Estate on Sunday.

South African Open

Thriston Lawrence dug deep to win the 112th South African Open title at Blair Atholl Golf and Country Estate on Sunday. Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images

It had everything the final round of the 112th Investec South African Open deserved. And it took everything from Thriston Lawrence to do what the greats of South African golf have done before him and add his name to one of the most sought after trophies in the game.

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With a drama-filled one-stroke victory on 16-under par at Blair Atholl Golf and Country Estate on Sunday, Lawrence turned his boyhood dreams into reality and claimed his third DP World Tour victory in what has been an incredible past 13 months for him.

“Unbelievable. It’s a dream come true for me. This is the one you want to win – your national Open. It was so special to have Gary Player watching as well. He’s won 13 of these, and now I’ve got one as well. It’s what you dream of. This means everything to me. This is by far my best victory ever,” said a relieved Lawrence.

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He started the final round with a two-stroke lead and at one point was as much as five shots ahead. But then came a stretch of five dropped shots in five holes on a back nine of 41 for a closing 74 where he was pulled into an almost match play battle with Clément Sordet who tied him for the lead before his bogey on 17.

“During the middle of the round it felt like it was going to be an easy victory for me and then golf happens. You get ups and downs during your round. You get ups and downs during life. And it happened to me today. It felt like everything was falling apart, but I just hung in there. It felt like match play for me. Even with those stumbles I was still ahead and then after 16 I told myself I was all square. I just tried to stick to my own game and stay calm,” said Lawrence.

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“To be standing here with the trophy is an unbelievable accomplishment for me. I’m just so grateful. It wasn’t the prettiest finish but a win is a win. I’ll probably wake up tomorrow and still not believe it. This is what you work for. It’s the toughest thing in the world to win, and it’s been an unbelievable start to the new season for me.”

Sordet took second place on 15-under par with a closing 73.

Christiaan Maas won the Freddie Tait Cup for the leading amateur as he ended the week on five-under par with a final round of 77.

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FINAL SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN SCORES

272 – Thriston Lawrence 64 67 67 74

273 – Clement Sordet 68 66 66 73

274 – Jens Fahrbring 65 70 69 70

277 – Matti Schmid 66 73 69 69

278 – Chase Hanna 69 73 69 67, Daniel Brown 71 70 69 68, Marcel Siem 69 68 70 71, Dean Burmester 70 71 66 71

279 – Charl Schwartzel 68 74 69 68, Jayden Schaper 68 72 70 69, Hennie du Plessis 70 72 67 70, Jaco Prinsloo 70 71 68 70, Edoardo Molinari 67 70 70 72, Ashun Wu 71 67 67 74

280 – Tom McKibbin 67 71 73 69, Scott Jamieson 66 71 72 71, Renato Paratore 70 70 69 71, Richard Sterne 69 71 74 66, Ockie Strydom 70 63 75 72, MJ Daffue 71 64 73 72, Wilco Nienaber 67 69 70 74, Martin Simonsen 73 68 65 74

281 – Luke Brown 67 72 72 70, Joost Luiten 72 69 68 72, Alejandro Del Rey 72 67 70 72, James Hart du Preez 70 68 70 73, Ross Fisher 65 71 71 74, Adrian Otaegui 70 66 71 74, Deon Germishuys 69 69 69 74

282 – Christoffer Bring 68 71 72 71, Zander Lombard 69 71 71 71, Jeong Weon Ko 69 66 75 72, Wynand Dingle 71 68 71 72, David Ravetto 71 69 70 72

283 – JJ Senekal 66 75 70 72, Jorge Campillo 73 67 72 71, Gary Hurley 69 70 71 73, Aaron Cockerill 68 74 72 69, Christiaan Maas 69 65 72 77

284 – Romain Langasque 71 71 69 73, Albert Venter 71 70 69 74, Francesco Laporta 71 69 70 74

285 – Nathan Kimsey 69 69 73 74, Santiago Tarrio 67 72 73 73, Yurav Premlall 72 67 71 75, Freddy Schott 70 71 71 73, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 68 74 71 72, Todd Clements 72 70 72 71, Pieter Moolman 70 71 74 70

286 – Jens Dantorp 68 73 70 75, Louis Albertse 73 66 73 74, Dylan Frittelli 70 71 71 74, Jacques Kruyswijk 70 69 74 73, Simon Forsstrom 71 70 67 78, JC Ritchie 73 69 73 71

287 – Sami Valimaki 72 70 71 74, Dan Bradbury 68 71 75 73, Adrien Saddier 73 69 73 72

288 – Brandon Stone 72 69 70 77, Tapio Pulkkanen 70 67 74 77, Aldrich Potgieter 71 71 71 75

289 – Thomas Aiken 68 73 71 77, Marc Warren 68 69 76 76

290 – Daniel van Tonder 74 68 73 75, Tristen Strydom 70 71 75 74, Jean Hugo 70 69 79 72

291 – Rourke van der Spuy 71 68 73 79, Darren Fichardt 68 70 75 78, Oliver Bekker 71 68 75 77

292 – Kyle De Beer 69 72 77 74

293 – Alex Haindl 70 71 75 77, MJ Viljoen 71 70 77 75

294 – Merrick Bremner 71 69 74 80

295 – Matthew Spacey 70 69 81 75

296 – Jonathan Broomhead 71 70 77 78, Lukas Nemecz 73 68 79 76

297 – Malcolm Mitchell 71 70 75 81